The circus is over;
curses escape rouged lips,
the mask slips,
dripping with clay
lumpen and grey.
Clown hands squeeze,
poking dreams
filled with screams
trapped in a false face –
a frozen grimace.
Kim M. Russell, 2016
My response to dVerse Poets Pub Tuesday Poetics: The Metaphorical Mask, also linked to earthweal open link weekend on 24th October 2020
Today Mish is our host and, with the spirit of Halloween hovering, she has been pondering about masks, their origins and uses. She’d like us to focus on metaphorical or psychological masks.
writing in north norfolk 
I don’t really like that clown face….sorry it is creepy..,, I guess clowns really did wear masks though and often what was hidden beneath was troubled and sometimes turbulent.
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I don’t like it much either – I’m actually scared of clowns. There is no way I would watch Stephen King’s ‘It’, although I can read it without getting too scared. It’s just the way they look.
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I think there is none sadder than the clown behind his mask… and after the circus has left the town I think that clowns are crying.
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I know about the tears of a clown but they still scare me!
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No, I never liked masks….or clowns, but I liked your write!
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I am really scared of clowns!
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Oh no, “It!” Creepy clowns.
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I liked the phrase “trapped in a false face”. Smiling is something worth practicing until our brains get good at it, but a clown’s laughter is a excessive. I wouldn’t want to be trapped in that face.
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Me neither!
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Clowns, I fear what lays behind the masks. Your poem expresses perfectly what I feel about them. Thank you.
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Thank you for your comments., Susie.
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Yikes! You have captured both the darkness and humor behind the mask of a clown.. that too.. in keeping with the spirit of Halloween! Beautifully rendered! 🙂
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Thank you, Sanaa!
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Frozen grimace! That paints a thousand pictures. Wonderful write, Kim.
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Thanks Jill!
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That clown face is the stuff of nightmares! The poem has wonderful descriptive phrases.
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Thanks Bev!
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I like how your rhythm draws out the grim/ace at the end.
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Thank you, Shawna.
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This is good – but, oh my God, do I hate clowns.
namaste,
JzB
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Me too!
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I’m not really afraid of clowns but I do think they epitomize the mask we wear so often, the one smiling though the pain. We shouldn’t have to wear that mask so often.
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Oh I agree, Mish!
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It made me ponder how difficult it must be for the clown to wear a mask all the time and that mask itself is his identity. Loved your poem.
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🙂
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Oh ugh………I can understand how children..and some adults..are creeped out by clown faces. That lumpy clay face. Who is trapped behind the frozen smile? I’m reminded here of the Stepford Wives also…their frozen smiles. Very few words you’ve used…but they sure send out the atmosphere and message.
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Forgot to mention….the title has it’s own meaning….how our masks do slip.
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😊
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😱
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I think you’ve just written a nightmare for every clown-fearing person out there. I like it.
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Thanks Magaly!
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Wow-lots of warm responses out here on the trail. In some ways, we all play the clown at times, the jester,
& those who wear the greasepaint well, like Robin Williams, have a depressed persona beneath it. Remember the film, THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, where Jimmy Stewart played the clown who never took his make up off?
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Creepy sight with Groovy feelings. 😎😎😎🥀🥀🥀
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Thank you, Dorna!
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Eeeeeeeeeeeek!
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😱
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kaykuala
trapped in a false face –
a frozen grimace.
The joke’s on them sometimes. A pity as they are supposed to provide laughter. Instead they may be laughed at.
Hank
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Or feared.
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Oh my goodness, Kim, what a terrifying clown portrait (both your words, and the picture!) There are perhaps too many of us now trapped with frozen grimaces behind our masks. I try to wear a smile behind mine, but it’s not always easy!
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I’ve seen someone wearing a reusable face mask with a clown mouth. Terrifying!
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A frozen grimace indeed….sort of what i do when someone points a camera at me. Lol.
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Me too!
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